World
War I naval hero was pride of CamdenFriday, March 7, 2003By LAVINIA DeCASTRO Courtesy of the Courier-Post Staff

He was a war hero and one of Camden's most
celebrated natives, but most residents have no idea for whom the city's
busiest thoroughfare was named.

"I've often wondered who he was," said Marsha
Yorinks, an English-as-a-second-language teacher at the Rafael Cordero
Molina School.

Admiral Henry Braid Wilson - yes, the boulevard
was named after him - was born in 1861 on Mount Vernon Street to an influential
Camden family. His father, also Henry B. Wilson, was a Camden postmaster,
teacher, school board member and legislator.

The school at 9th and Florence streets, which
opened in 1908, was named after the father.

The younger Wilson graduated from the U.S.
Naval Academy in 1881 and quickly worked his way up the ranks.

He was assigned command of the USS Pennsylvania,
the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet, in 1916. The following year in early
April, the United States entered World War I and Wilson became commander
of the American naval forces in France. He convoyed troops and supplies
to France during the war without the loss of a single life.

"He's on the Camden County calendar," Molina
teacher Ana Carrion said of the admiral's picture, one of three photos
on the calendar's July page. "But there's just the picture, it doesn't
say anything about him."

In 1919, Wilson became commander-in-chief of
the Atlantic fleet.

Although Wilson no longer lived in Camden -
he spent most of his years in California and New York - his parents still
lived here, and he visited often. In April 1919, the city celebrated his
return in style - a grand reception, complete with a shad dinner and motorcades.

"It was a Camden officer, in the person of
Admiral Wilson, who taught the kaiser ( the main New Jersey highway leading
to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.

Four years later, Wilson returned to Camden
as an honored guest once more, this time because city officials had decided
to baptize the road "in honor of Camden's greatest native son." The change
was announced during the 1929 Armistice Day ceremonies.

South Jerseyans soon came to know the highway
as Admiral Wilson Boulevard.

What they didn't know was that name change
had not been made official.

During Mayor Winfield Price's administration,
city commissioners tried to correct the problem by adopting a resolution
to make the name change official, but an ordinance was needed before the
change could take effect.

That ordinance was finally drafted in 1937,
according to a Courier-Post article that year, and Bridge Boulevard officially
became Admiral Wilson Boulevard.

Wilson died in 1954 at the age of 93. At the
time, Camden prospered. But as the city decayed, so did Admiral Wilson
Boulevard.

"We always used to say whoever this man was,
he must be turning in his grave because of what has become of his boulevard,"
Carrion said.

Less than two decades after the war hero's
death, his name would invoke images of run-down properties, violence, prostitution
and drug dealing. That's what motorists saw when traveling on his boulevard
for the remainder of the 20th century.

But that changed in 2000, when the national
Republican Party decided to hold its convention in Philadelphia.

Led by former Governor Christie Whitman's desire
to clean up the boulevard before the convention, the Delaware River Port
Authority spruced up the gritty urban landscape in a hurry with $30 million
in bridge tolls. The project was controversial because it displaced a mix
of respected and undesirable tax-paying businesses, including a couple
of motels, liquor stores, gas stations and Showgirls Palace, a strip joint
in Pennsauken near the Camden boundary.

Whitman also authorized the spending of nearly
$6.3 million in housing and infrastructure improvement for the area surrounding
the road, cleaning up not only the road, but also the admiral's legacy.
Henry Braid Wilson was born 23 February 1861 at Camden,
New Jersey, and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1881.

During the early days of his career he served
in Tennessee and Saratoga and on coast survey expeditions to the Bering
Sea.

During the Spanish-American war Wilson was
attached to gunboat Bancroft and was commended for bravery.

In the years that followed he served in many
ships, and was Pennsylvania's first commanding officer in 1916. He commanded
the Atlantic Fleet's patrol forces during the First World War, and was
responsible for the safe convoying of troops and supplies to Europe.

For his outstanding service Wilson was awarded
both the Navy and War Department Distinguished Service Medals. Following
the war, he was Commander-in-Chief U.S. Atlantic Fleet and later the Battle
Fleet commander.

In 1921 Admiral Wilson took over as Superintendent
of the Naval Academy, and in his 4 years at Annapolis did much to raise
its academic standing and improve the quality of education.

Admiral Wilson retired in 1925 after nearly
50 years of service as seaman, leader, and educator. He died 30 January
1954 at New York City.

Admiral Henry B. Wilson was the most celebrated
Camden citizen to contribute to America's war effort in World War I. Born
on Mt. Vernon Street in 1861, the son of Camden postmaster, teacher, and
legislator H. B. Wilson, young Henry graduated from the United States Naval
Academy at Annapolis in 1881. Wilson worked his way up the ranks, becoming
commander of the American fleet in French waters by the First World War.
Admiral Wilson convoyed troops and supplies to France during the war without
the loss of a single life.

In April 1919, Camden welcomed Admiral Henry
B. Wilson to the city with receptions, motorcades, planked shad dinner,
and a reception at the Third Regiment Armory. Prosecutor Charles A. Wolverton
addressed the banquet gathering. "It was a Camden officer, in the person
of Admiral Wilson," Wolverton told the guests, "who taught the Kaiser and
his war lords that there is no such word as 'impossible' to be found in
all the historic records of the American Navy.""

Source: Camden County, New Jersey, 1616-1976:
A Narrative, by Jeffrey M. Dorwart and Philip English Mackey. Camden
County, NJ: Camden County Cultural & Heritage Commission, 1976

Admiral
Wilson died on 30 January 1954 and was buried with full military honors
in Section 5 of Arlington National Cemetery. His wife, Ada Chapman Wilson
(2 January 1871-5 August 1963) is buried with him.